


Pin(ing boy)e Trees

by Malevelynce



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Cute, Family, M/M, Pining, Sharing a Bed, Sleepy Cuddles, klanceholidayexchange2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-21 22:20:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13153200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Malevelynce/pseuds/Malevelynce
Summary: Keith is invited to stay with Lance over Christmas, but with his pining heart throbbing in his chest, will all secrets remain hidden before Christmas is over?





	Pin(ing boy)e Trees

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Eilrachi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eilrachi/gifts).



> This work is for the Klance Holiday Exchange!  
> Enjoy!

It was sweet, like cotton candy, the way the rain fell. Drizzling gently and leaving kisses like teardrops on his cheeks and crystals sprinkled in his hair. The wind caressed his cheek, whistling through his sweater and engulfing his skin. Sharp pine filled the air, warm holly traversing on the breeze, enticing him to enjoy every moment spent outside.

But in all honesty, it was cold and rain was starting to soak into the top of his duffel. All he wanted was for Lance to come to the goddamn door, but after he had rung the doorbell, a string of curse words had made its way through the door, muffled but audible. “It's Keith!” someone yelled, who sounded similar to Lance, but with a house full of the entire extended McClain family, Keith couldn't be sure.

He had been shocked, that was for sure, when Lance had invited him to come over and stay for the Christmas weekend at his house. Sure, he was planning on staying on campus with the handful of international students who couldn’t go home, but he didn’t want to be treated like a charity case.

But when Lance’s blue eyes pleaded him, Keith almost always gave in. How could he say no? He hadn’t said no ever since the “best friend” status started hurting. So now he was standing outside Lance’s house, his pining heart aching in his chest, acutely aware of the pain he was about to put himself through.

There was still movement going on inside the house, so he was reluctant to ring again and settled for a knock, hearing harsh whispers behind the door. With a loud slam and a groaned “ow,” the door finally swung open, Lance's flushed face smiling back at him.

“Hi, Keith!” he welcomed with somewhat of a tight smile, pulling the door open wide and letting the black-haired boy into his house. And with that, it seemed like an entire legion erupted from various, poorly-chosen hiding placing around the foyer.

“Welcome!” The entire house screamed, too many people crammed in too little a space. Before Keith could even have a second to breath in the scent of Christmas and gingerbread, a small boy ran up to him attaching himself to Keith's leg. After the initial yell, a popcorn of “Merry Christmas”s and “We're glad you're here”s and “It's nice to meet you”s struck him at one too many angles. It was physically dizzying to be close to so many people, all exuding such pure adrenaline and happiness.

Keith had no idea where to look and tried to smile, but he was pretty sure his mouth moved closer to a frown with the added effort. His breathing picked up as his eyes flicked around the space, the small child still clutching onto his leg as another chased a dog—a dog?! Why didn't Lance tell him he had a dog?!—around the house. There was a looming pine tree in the corner of the tree, decorated top to bottom with gold garland and a huge array of ornaments of all shapes and sizes.

Just as his panic started the pulsate in his chest, Lance slipped his hand onto the small of Keith's back and proudly announced him to the family, “This is Keith, everybody!” Having the warmth and strength of Lance right next to him helped to ease his frantic mind, although his heart beat harder in his chest with his closeness.

“Thanks for the, uh, the kind welcome,” Keith managed to get out with a smile that he actually think made to his face. “Glad to be here.” He turned his eyes to Lance, feeling his heart constrict in a different sort of nervousness. Keith took a step away from the taller boy with a smile to try and somehow hide the blush growing on his cheeks.

Awkwardly lifting his bag, Keith asked where he should put his stuff down before he could officially meet all of the family. Lance scrambled and forcefully grabbed Keith's bag from him, tugging it out of his hands. “I’ll get Keith settled in a bit and then bring him back!” Lance announced to the household as he fluttered up the steps.

Gently detaching the small boy from his leg, Keith sent a small, very awkward smile to the woman standing in front of him, pushing the child toward her instead of him. “Uh, here you go.” The woman let out a laugh and ruffled the kid’s hair affectionately.

The escape of the stairs was a relief, the smile washing off his features for a moment, letting a breath decompress from his lungs.

Walking down a long hallway and taking the last right, Lance and Keith entered a cozy room with dark blue walls and a small bed. One small bed. “Oh, who's room is this?” Keith asked, looking at the different memorabilia and posters, a stack of vinyl records next to a record player in the corner that caught Keith's attention. There was also an adorable, three-foot Christmas tree near the door, blue and purple glitter ornaments strung up with colored lights.

“It's mine! If I had enough energy, I would actually put quality posters up instead of these trashy bands, but whatever, right?” Lance shrugged and dropped Keith's bag next to his bed.

Keith didn’t even hear the rest of Lance’s comment. He was standing in Lance’s room. There was one bed. His bag was on the ground next to the bed. He didn’t even want to try and wrap his head around what that could possibly mean.

Lance’s room. One bed.

Swallowing hard, Keith scratched the back of his head and looked around, trying not to seem too uncomfortable. He set his gaze on a set of model rockets sitting on his desk. “Holy crow! I'll go grab the air mattress. I thought I put it in here earlier, geez,” Lance muttered, hurrying from the room with a blush that Keith didn't quite catch.

Praise the ancients for air mattresses.

With the panic of sharing a bed with Lance, Keith spread his gaze back to admire the room. Immediately, he was drawn to the model rockets, picking one up and looking at the intricacies in it's design. Hearing a thud, Keith jumped just as Lance dropped the folded air mattress and came over to him.

“My dad got these sets for me. Cool, right?” His voice held such genuine compassion and adoration, Keith's heart just about melted. Keith set the rocket down on the table and gazed at the variety of spaceships set out.

With a fond smile, Keith whispered, “Yeah, they're actually really cool.” But his eyes weren’t one the rockets, they were staring straight into Lance’s. Coughing awkwardly, Keith looked intensely at his fingers, twirling his thumbs back and forth.

“So!” Lance yelled, breaking the stillness with an uncomfortably loud voice. “I should properly introduce you to the family, huh?” He smiled broadly before leading Keith out of his room, his hands in his jacket pockets. Keith swore that boy hardly lived outside of his ratty green jacket. But it was cute, nonetheless. Biting his lip, Keith willed the thought away and followed him.

Immediately, a small boy attached himself to Keith’s leg, wailing, “Uncle Keef!” His eyes were bright blue, rivaling the color of even Lance’s, but that didn’t shock him nearly as much as being referred to as “uncle” by the five-year-old boy.

“Uh, hi?” he managed with a smile to the youngster.

Lance let out a loud laugh, and Keith’s heart stopped as his lanky arm found itself resting around Keith’s shoulders. “This is Paul. Cutie, isn’t he?” Paul giggled and buried his face into the back of Keith’s knees, his dirty blonde hair tickling him. “Paul and Angeline are siblings, and they belong to . . . oh, there they are! Nathaniel and Chloe. Chloe is my oldest sister,” Lance told the clueless boy, pointing to a pretty woman, obviously pregnant, and who he assumed was Angeline tugging on the bottom of her mother’s dress.

“And then we have Miranda, my second oldest sister, and her fiancee, Gavin.” Another slender finger and a small wave from Miranda who Keith barely had a chance to look as before his attention was dragged elsewhere. “Here’s Arlo, my older brother, and his dog, Microwave.”

Lance noticed Keith’s horrified expression and nodded solemnly. “Mic lives a hard life, I know.” Microwave sat by Arlo’s feet as the boy leaned against the banister, looking at his phone, hardly giving a nod to Lance’s acknowledgement. “And last but not least of the immediate family, we have Clarissa, the youngest older sister.”

The girl’s curly brown hair seemed to spill over her shoulders and envelope him as she bounced into a hug, Keith not prepared at all for Clarissa to spring off the staircase and hug him, to say the least. “It’s great to finally meet you!”

“And here’s my Mom and Dad,” Lance introduced; Keith’s heart pounded in his chest as he was subject to another hug, Mrs. McClain’s arms wrapping him up tight. A firm handshake from Mr. McClain and pleasantries and warm greetings rushed past his ears before Lance began introducing the cousins and aunts and uncles and everyone else huddled in the small foyer.

It was a lot, to say the least. How did Lance keep everyone’s names straight and know how each and every member was connected to him? Sometimes Keith scrambled for his teacher’s names at college, and often times forgot what they taught. And yet, here Lance was smiling at every family member and Keith didn’t doubt that Lance could tell him everything he wanted to know about all of them.

Keith couldn’t even imagine having one sibling, and to have so many bubbling spirits and excited babbles escaping from each room, every nook and crevice of the household was dizzying. Lance pulled Keith close to him, his lips brushing his ear, chills walking down his spine. “Don’t worry, they’re only staying for dinner and then we’ll have the night to ourselves!” he whispered excitedly, his voice hushed but not so quiet. Letting out a laugh, Keith smiled and shook his head at Lance, trying to keep his fluttering heart calm.

But before dinner, everyone had to help prepare something. Well, all the kids at least. Lance’s mom was the overlord of the kitchen and the kids while Lance’s dad was busting out a new bottle of wine with the parents. Keith held in a laugh as Chloe--Lance’s pregnant older sister--grabbed a juice box from her bag and sat there looking like a child while everyone else had a glass of wine.

In the kitchen, Keith was tasked with supervising Paul’s peeling of the potatoes. With each finished potato, Paul let out a pterodactyl screech of joy and handed it up to Keith, who was to make sure he really had peeled the whole thing, and hand it over to Arlo who was cutting them. Meanwhile, Microwave tried his hardest to lick Angeline’s face and kept attempting to jump up on the counter, getting several smacks from Lance’s mom.

Keith was acutely aware of Lance behind him, his shoulder bumping into Keith’s every so often as he mashed the potatoes that Arlo cut for him, adding the perfect amounts of butter and milk and salt and everything that made the McClain’s mashed potatoes perfect.

And before he knew it, Paul was out of potatoes, Microwave was curled around Angeline, and Arlo was back on his phone. Clarissa finished setting the table and Mrs. McClain called everyone to table. Well, to both the tables. Awkward extensions and all, Clarissa, Lance, Keith, Paul, and Angeline were resigned to a smaller table sat in the threshold between the dining room and the kitchen. It was bustling. It was perfect.

Laughter was abounding, jokes were raucous, food was amazing, anecdotes were drawn-out and whimsical. It may have been the day before Christmas eve, but after that meal, Keith wouldn’t have been sad to be booted out with the rest of the extended family.

Still, the brightness of Lance’s eyes made him never want to leave. And his family, of course, Keith reminded himself. He didn’t want to leave Lance and his family. Not _just_ Lance, obviously.

Yet those whispered words were ringing around in his skull. The tender feeling of Lance’s lips brushing his ear still sent shivers down his spine hours after the fact. It was those very words that held him in anticipation as each family member brought their plates to the sink and helped clean up the tables, folding chairs and plastic tablecloths being put away like clockwork.

  _. . . we’ll have the night to ourselves!_

And as the last family member gave their goodbyes and Paul hugged Keith’s leg once more, Keith let out the most dramatic sigh of relief. While Chloe and her husband were taking the kids home, Miranda and Gavin were staying in the basement while Arlo and Clarissa were going to stay in their childhood rooms. And of course, Keith was staying on an air mattress in Lance’s room.

He wasn’t nervous at all. Nope.

As Lance’s parents gave Lance a stern look and short talk about being a good host and excused themselves to bed, Lance excitedly turned to him, “What movie do you want to watch?” His voice was pitched and over-enthused, so much so that Keith couldn’t help the laughter bubbling to his lips.

“This is what we’re going to do with the ‘night to ourselves,’ huh?”

Lance seemed offended that Keith would even presume that there was anything better than a quality Christmas movie and some popcorn. “Well, my vote is for the _Polar Express_ !” Keith shook his head with a laugh and gave in, not even daring to oppose him. Especially since the only movie coming to mind was _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ , and he wasn’t even sure if that could be qualified as a Christmas movie.

And accidental snuggles were always a plus. Keith hid his blush behind a forced cough and followed Lance into the living room, his excitement palpable as he settled in on the couch, bowl of popcorn nestled between the two boys.

Keith silently cursed himself for not sitting on the other side of the Lance, the plastic blue bowl obstructing a perfectly lay-able shoulder. But before too long, he was sucked into the movie, having only ever seen short clips and weird scenes before that night.

Almost unconsciously, Keith snagged the popcorn bowl and dropped it in his lap, the salt biting his lips as the main girl travelled atop the train, snow blowing around like crazy. When his fingernails hit the bottom of the bowl, he realized he had inched himself closer to the other boy. Willing his heart rate down to a normal level, Keith dropped the bowl on the opposite side of him, surreptitiously sending his gaze to stare at Lance.

His mouth was parted over-so-slightly, his eyes reflected the light from the TV, his skin aglow, looking almost angelic. And then Lance’s curious eyes were on him, his head cocked as he wondered what was the matter. “You good?” he asked as Keith dropped his gaze from the boys face to the crevice in the couch between them.

“Yep!” Keith responded overenthusiastically, flicking his eyes back up to meet his, hoping Lance couldn’t see the blush on his cheeks in the darkness of the living room. Lance furrowed his brows but smiled anyway, letting out an exhale of a laugh and turning his attention back to the movie.

As Keith lulled in and out of paying attention, he daydreamed about dropping his head onto Lance’s shoulder. He wanted more than the barest whisper of his knee against Lance’s thigh. But everytime he thought about actually increasing contact, his blush forced him to look back to the screen, the poorly animated characters and flimsy plotline not helping him ease from reality back into fantasy.

The movie ended and Keith shook his head, annoyed at squandering the perfect opportunity. Yet, simply sharing the same space, inches away, on the same couch, was still somehow enough. Any time spent with Lance was well-spent.

Lance let out a sigh and rolled his eyes, annoyance spitting off his tongue, “ _Now_ we have to blow up the air mattress.”

Swallowing awkwardly, Keith imagined the words rolling off his lips, “ _We could just share your bed_.” But once again, a goddamn blush heated up his face, forcing him to turn away from Lance Plus, the bed was kind of small, and he really didn’t want to annoy him. Air mattresses were fine. Just fine.

So, the two creeped upstairs, moving quietly; the clock shining a dim blue 12:18, and the rest of the house was asleep. Lance flinched as he plugged in and turned on the electric pump, the whirring noise reverberating around his room. The boys shared a panicked look, both afraid of waking Lance’s family with their dumb forgetfulness.

And then the sheets and the pillow were on and Keith’s bed was made. It certainly looked like an uncomfortable death trap, especially since it wasn’t blown up all the way because Lance got too nervous he was going to wake someone. It was going to be a fun night, that was for sure.

Keith took his clothes and changed in the bathroom; he splashed cold water on his face and determined that he would not to let his stupid crush keep him from functioning like a regular human being.

He crawled into bed and his butt was on the ground. The air mattress was so shitty that his ass sank right to the ground while his head and feet were propped up with the uneven dispersion of air. It was actual hell. But obviously, when Lance asked, Keith was fine, perfectly fine.

They said their goodnights and the lights went off, shadows chasing the light as Lance set an alarm on his phone and tucked it under his pillow, whispering one last goodnight that Keith tucked against his heart. The Christmas tree lights twinkled in the corner of his vision, loving the webs of crystallized light it splayed onto the ground.

And Keith hated every move he made, the plastic-y material crinkling beneath him. Yet, no matter how much of the horrible noise he withstanded, he could not get comfortable. After maybe an hour Keith angrily slammed his head down onto the pillow, letting out a sigh.

But, when he drew his breath back in, there was still a noise similar to his sigh, but a little higher pitched, closer to a hissing noise. “Shit, oh shit!” Keith whispered, hurriedly sitting up on his knees in the middle of the mattress and trying to find the hole. He had no idea what to do, and by the time he found the tear in the mattress, there was hardly any air in the damned thing at all.

So he got up, throwing the blanket off him and running a hand through his hair, letting his breath out through his teeth. He started pacing, somehow trying to calm himself down. But all that lead to was him taking notice of Lance, sprawled out in his bed, limbs everywhere, his hair mused across his forehead, his breathing gentle and even. He was beautiful.

And without consent, Keith had a hand on the bed, ready to climb in and wrap himself around Lance, ready to steal his warmth and his comfort. But he froze, one hand next to Lance’s face, feeling his breath on his knuckles.

He cursed under his breath and twirled around, letting out a small noise of frustration, the darkness his friend as he took two steps away from Lance’s bed.

And he only made it two steps, because his heart stopped still as Lance’s groggy voice called out, “Keith?” The boy in question turned around slowly, baring his teeth in something less than a smile, a blush coating his face. “What’s wrong?” Lance asked, rubbing at his eye and propping himself up on one elbow.

“Oh, aha, it’s nothing. Just, I, uh, hah, I can’t, really, sleep, uh, at other people’s houses sometimes . . . It’s just um, I?”

Even after just waking up from a dead sleep, Lance narrowed his eyes at Keith, lifting an eyebrow in speculation.

“I popped a hole in the air mattress . . .” Keith relinquished, looking away from Lance and digging his toe into his carpet with embarrassment.

Lance looked at him for a moment before erupting into a pile of laughter, throwing his limbs all about as he rolled around. “That! That’s hilarious!” he managed to gasp out between fits of laughter that Keith couldn’t help but join, the atmosphere contagious. Keith couldn’t have been more thankful that Lance didn’t yell at him for breaking his air mattress, that would have been hell to deal with, especially past one in the morning.

“Come on.” Lane ushered to Keith as he lifted up the blanket, showing off Lance’s cute blue pajama pants and graphic tee with a christmas tree printed on it. Keith blushed immediately, his heart pounding in his chest.

Swallowing awkwardly, Keith ground out, “Are you sure?” His voice was small and laced with nerves, his eyes looking anywhere but Lance.

“Of course I’m sure, get in here,” Lance demanded, a smile on his face, his blue eyes pleading. How could Keith say no?

He was warm. Lance was warm and Keith felt himself melting as his blanket enfolded him. His legs were soon intertwined with longer ones, feeling small puffs of breath brushing gentle strands of hair off his neck as Lance curled himself around Keith. A warm arm wrapped around Keith’s midsection pulling him even closer against Lance.

Keith could hardly tell where he stopped and Lance began, warmth embracing him just as tightly as Lance was. There wasn’t anything in the world that could beat that Christmas present.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this !  
> Shout out to @eilrachi for the adorable prompts, it was super fun to write and I really hope you like it :)  
> Shout out to @communikate for being the best beta ever  
> Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!


End file.
